Bolzano...

Last weekend we finally managed to carve some time into an 'official' vacation! Apparently, we are homebodies in the States and haven't had a real 'family' vacation since Tobin and I went on our honeymoon (that would be 9 years ago)! I was certainly ready for one and who could have picked a better spot. As I said last time, we headed north.

First stop on the wild vacation ride was the booming metropolis of Bolzano, Italy. I have been interested in this region since I read about it in my guide book months ago. Apparently, this region used to be Austria (they speak German) prior to WWI, but after losing that war, Italy got this portion of Austria when they carved it up afterward. So the people of this region are fairly different than the Italians that we have come to know and love in the south. They are much fairer (there are actually folks with blonde hair and blue eyes) and they are just a bit bigger (stature-wise). I immediately noticed that I didn't stand out like a sore thumb (it is ridiculously apparent that I am not from Italy in the south)...and everyone spoke to me in German! The area has a very rich German influence...all the road signs are in Italian AND German...it takes a bit of getting used to! So when interacting with the locals...they all just slip into German. You know how fluent I am in Italian...so you can imagine how well those coversations go! Everywhere I go, everyone asks if I am German...I never knew I looked so German! They are honestly shocked that I am an American...you would think they would pick up the accent!

Here is an example of a sign in Italian and German...it says to push (like push the door open)...

Bolzano is surrounded by Alps and grape vines...right on the sides of the mountains! It is a pretty curious site to see grape vines clinging to the mountains...it obviously doesn't get that cold here...though it was much cooler than Montalto. They don't even have air conditioning in the hotels, but it did cool down dramatically when the sun went down!

We realized that we were very used to our surroundings here in Montalto, driving into Bolzano, it was easy to see it was foriegn...bikes were EVERYWHERE...

And the architecture is completely different...

Back to the town...here is a picture of Piazza Walther...

Bolzano's cathedral...I so LOVE the colorful glazed tile roof...

But after all it is still in Italy, so it was pizza for dinner...I so LOVE the pizza here. I especially like the personal ones you can get...I can get 'normal' stuff for the kids and Tobin and I can get whatever 'crazy' toppings that I want. My current favorite is called 4 seasons...prociutto, black olives, artichokes, and mushrooms...Yum...

And after a long day of vacationing...the crew crashed...

Day one of our first family vacation was a resounding success...even with a 2 year old and a 6 hour drive! One of our favorite things to occupy our time was to keep track of the number of tunnels we drove through each day (and each country...yes, I am a nerd)...Day one...39 tunnels!

I hope that you have a wonderful, cool day!

Ciao a tutti!

Volterra...

Yes! For those of you who have read the Twilight Saga...yes! This is the same Volterra that Meyer wrote about in the second book! On Sunday (I am still writing about last Sunday...it was a REALLY long day and we didn't get home until midnight...we are tired!) after we went to Pisa and Lucca, we went the back way home through Volterra. On the way there we saw this awesome rainbow...

We reached Volterra at about 7pm and enjoyed our first real experience in an Italian resturant (thank you Rick Steves')...we were really adventurous and ordered different KINDS of pizza! It was really good...we even got to have some vino! Again, it has been hard to do resturants because we don't know enough Italian to order anything for us let alone the kids! So this was a real treat...I loved it! Just outside the old city walls is this roman ampitheater...

The town also has 'the only Etruscan archway' in existance...at least that is what they say. Apparently in WWII, the Nazis were retreating through this town and wanted to blow up the arch to stop the allied advance...the people of the town ripped the stones out of the road and blocked the arch and convince the retreating Nazi army not to blow it up...

As we were walking through this old castle turned town at dusk, one can really understand why Meyer chose to use it in her book. Bats flying overhead, people looking at you funny (well, I guess we get that everywhere we go here, but it certainly added to the ambiance of the place)...it is easy to just let your imagination go! Here is the Tuscan view from the town at dusk...

Phew! Last weekend is done now! On to other fun stuff! I think we have explored more in the past month and a half than we have in Case's entire life! Good thing our rental car has unlimited miles!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Ciao a tutti!

Viterbo...

After Monte Romano and Vetralla, we found ourselves in Viterbo. Viterbo is a much bigger city/town than any that we have been in thus far (apart from Rome). We found the Centro (said Chen tro) pretty easily and even some parking without too much trouble! The entrance to the centro...

The fountain inside in a really nice piazza...

We walked around a bit and found a great pizzaria...the best pizza we have had thus far in Italy!

A picture of the backside of the castle...

That is it for our Tuesday afternoon adventure.

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao a tutti!